Giving Van Dyke and Chekwa time to develop

New Raiders coach Dennis Allen was a safety in college at Texas A&M and came up the coaching ranks as a defensive backs coach.

“The first thing that came out of his mouth when we meet,” Raiders cornerback Shawntae Spencer said, “was ‘I am a defensive back at heart. You are the last line of defense and I take that very seriously.”

While it was obvious from Day 1 that Allen didn’t like last year’s corners, Stanford Routt and Chris Johnson, he is intrigued by young Raiders DeMarcus Van Dyke and Chimdi Chekwa. They will back up and hopefully learn from Spencer and Ron Bartell, who were both signed to one-year deals.

“We filled a couple of holes that have given us a chance to go out and be competitive,” Allen told 95.7 FM last week. “I feel good about the guys we signed and I feel good about trying to develop some of these young guys.”

“That’s the great thing about when you bring in some veteran guys — it gives you a little bit of time for some of these young guys to really develop who I think got a chance to be good players. And I am specifically talking about DeMarcus Van Dyke and Chimdi Chekwa.”

Spencer said he and Bartell have already told the two second-year players to use them up as resources.

“We’re going to help those guys anyway we can,” Spencer said. “Ron and I are very approachable people and they can always pull us aside or call us anytime of the day or night. There is a science to this position, and we can help them understand that better.”

Spencer has been impressed, after just a week with Van Dyke and Chekwa.

“They are very good young men, very athletic and very talented,” Spencer said. “The sky is the limit for them. It is going to be very fun for Ron and to watch them develop.”

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Feb. 22, 1982: That was the day that both Spencer and Bartell were born. “Everybody here thinks that I am the oldest,” Spencer said, “but no I am not.” Spencer and Bartell hit it off right away, as they have a mutual friend in former 49ers cornerback Nate Clements (who trains with Bartell).